Working in sound can be dangerously stressful and taxing on both mind and body - so we were really happy that Andrew Lackey allowed us to re-post his insights on the importance of looking after yourself, even when things are hectic:
Written by Andrew Lackey and reposted with his kind permission

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For many of us, this time of year is about spending time with family and friends; the other “half” of the life balance. I jokingly put half in quotes because that “half” can look a lot more like a sliver on the pie chart during some projects. One of the dicier topics in our industry is “The Crunch”: the final weeks or months of a project where there aren’t enough hours in the week to get everything done to the quality bar you’ve set. Audio Pros are particularly vulnerable to this problem since sound production is finessed and finalized at a very late stage in the process. I’ve worked in TV, Film, Video Games and Commercials – as an in house sound designer and as an external contractor; ”The Crunch” is universal.

The prevailing opinion in the biz is ‘deal with it’, and ’it’s part of the job’. I agree with this, and even embrace it… to an extent. To function well on commercial products, creative right brainy people need limits – especially time limits. Crunch mode helps focus your attention, cut ideas that aren’t paying off and commit to the creative choices you’ve made.

However, there comes a point in “The Crunch” where personal well being becomes an issue. In a generalized observation gathered from myself, my peers, my mentors and younger people coming into the business, we often go over the line. Yes, “The Crunch” is part of the job, but sacrificing your health and well being is not. In this article, I offer you no guidelines; only evidence that your personal health is supremely important. This line is always up to you to define.

Two Aspects: Health and Well Being.

Health – Stress while recording a lion is good. Weeks of stress during a crunch is bad.

The sustained and habitual stress of our work sets us up for what doctors call Chronic Stress. Stress in small doses is good. In fact, it keeps you from doing stupid things like stepping out into traffic. It helps us survive very dangerous situations.

This constant state of stress doesn’t allow your body to recoup, and your cardiovascular system, digestive system, weight and mental health are all at risk

The problem is that our bodies can’t stay in that state very long without doing internal damage. Chronic stress is just that. This constant state of stress doesn’t allow your body to recoup, and your cardiovascular system, digestive system, weight and mental health are all at risk. Many doctors believe this to be just as bad as a serious addiction. Look it up.

Wellness – We can all learn a thing or two from Ben Burtt.

At the end of Ben Burt’s recent acceptance speech for the Charles S. Swartz Award, he warmly and sincerely says:

“And lastly I want to urge everybody that…we know in post production you’re in a very tough business that takes a lot of sacrifice of your time and energy. I’ve never fully solved this problem, but I’ve learned over the years that you have to make time for your loved ones. That you have to try to get home for dinner and be with those kids across the table at night if you can. And I know the business doesn’t favor that kind of activity…it doesn’t put an emphasis on that. But you find in many many years that those loves ones that you leave at home, that are waiting for you, matter a lot more ultimately than the films and shows that you do. So try to find a balance there. Try to find projects that allow you to do that, or make decisions that allow that to happen. Thank you for this award its really an honor.”

Ben opened huge doors to the wonders of sound that we’re all playing in. He has had an amazing career in doing so. Yet, in a lifetime achievement award he is saying…”loved ones are more important”.

This isn’t the first time any of us have heard this advice, and on some level we know balance needs to be maintained to keep ourselves and our lives functional. The fact is humans need this practice of community, commitment and belonging to stay healthy and happy. To a certain extent we build these relationships with our coworkers, but spiritual leaders, doctors, and sound design visionaries agree… spending quality time with loved one’s is at the core of content happy lives.

Now for the hard part; making it happen:

I for one haven’t always been skillful creating this balance for myself. Ultimately this is your challenge, but here are some suggestions.

Start to notice your health and well being.

Think about the last year. What have been the good times and bad? How are you doing now?

Take really small steps.

Eat an apple today, and allow yourself to slowly graduate to better habits like regular exercise and leaving work at a specified time.

Learn

There are many forms of stress management…all with great side benefits. Be curious about what spiritual, philosophical, and health wisdom you can seek.

Encourage others to be healthy.

Altruism and compassion are the keys to happiness if you believe the Dali Lama. I feel we struggle against a culture that during crunch time manufactures a sense of duty that attempts to supersede our desire for personal well being. Showing co-workers compassion for their stress is not only a way to keep that in perspective, but a kind practice you will get benefit from.

Value Planning for great results and graceful execution.

You have to get the job done…and well. No doubt about it. Define the results you want to achieve on a daily, weekly and monthly basis and work as gracefully as possible to achieve them.

Communicate your intentions.

Be frank and honest about where your limits are, but also keep in mind that ‘negotiation’ needs flexibility. Sometimes just stating your preference not to work 120 hours this week is a good first step. There is a great state of mind termed: Equanimity Try to keep that in these situations.

Continually evaluate your situation.

Retain your power by continuing to evaluate your situation. This doesn’t necessarily mean look for another job, but that is certainly one evaluation you could make. The more ideal approach is the make many small adjustments from periodic evaluations instead of one big one. You may still end up looking for another job, but there may be other adjustments that will benefit you as much or more. Ask yourself, “How’s this working out for me?”, but there’s no need to freak out if the answer is bad. If you’ll notice this step is the same as the first.

Our jobs wouldn’t be any fun if we were punching a clock and stamping widgets. The challenge for us as individuals and as a community is to balance our open hearted love for what we do with the principles of healthy living. I hope you find this helpful.

In a remote research lab in the north-east of England, scientists have been secretly carrying out experiments on a number of human test subjects. There is no record of what these experiments entailed or who authorized them, but one thing we do know is that something went horrendously wrong and transformed these once-innocent, everyday people into something else entirely… Something inherently evil.

Herein lies an audio documentation of these wretched beasts as they run amok with only one thing on their minds… To feed and to destroy.

Featuring sounds taken from lo-fi instrumental recordings, harsh noise experiments and granular synthesis explorations, Atmosfear is a gritty soundscape collection geared towards the horror genre. With a distinctly unpolished production style to bring a rough edge to your scenario, these sounds can be used to invoke feelings of suspense, dread, tension, fear and doom into your characters and environments.

What does an industrial scale torture chamber in an abandoned asylum sound like? What about a high-voltage electrical possession? Find the answer to these questions and more with Atmosfear. Enter if you dare.

Swordfighter is a robust package with sharp sounding swords, heaps of variations and all the extras you need to make a fight come alive. Build unique sword swings with various hits, swooshes, schings, different fighter vocals and impacts on various surfaces. All up there are 137 sword sounds, 93 surface impact sounds, 15 knife throwing sounds, 48 swooshes and 180 fighter vocals.

This version includes two sub-folders: one optimised for a film & TV workflow and the other optimised for video games workflow. Plus a few bonus sounds of a charging army.

Get all sorts of ambisonic debris recordings in this release from Spheric Collection – perfect for earthquakes, landslides, explosions and beyond. Debris is the material you will need for a house and gallery collapsing. From very small stone and dust to large rocks, this collection is a good set of mineral sounds – covering everything from impacts, continuous falling debris, rocks poured from various heights, light and heavy falling debris sounds, a number of falling rock sounds, to rocky explosions and blasts, glass sounds and more. Always immersive all sounds are ambisonic recordings.

About Ambisonics:

This is an Ambisonics sound effects library - and by using the free SoundField SurroundZone 2 plugin you can convert the B-format files into your preferred format (stereo, 5.0, 5.1, 6.0, 6.1, 7.0 or 7.1 surround). Note: The library also contains ready-made stereo mixdowns for your convenience.

If you are a musician who wants to define the building blocks of an intense horror track or maybe you are a sound designer who needs to create a musical moment in a scene from a sound design perspective, this library can help you to achieve those things.

Metals, vinyl noises, voices, ukuleles, flutes, guitars and clocks were used to create this intense pack of 164 loops and 44 Fx.

Check the main demo!! It was created very quickly using only the sounds of the pack with NO ADDED EFFECTS, only mixing the levels of the sounds and shows you the intensity of what you can create with this library!!

Vintage Film Tech Effects features Slate claps, Beeps, Bloops, Film leader tone, Static, 2 Pops, digital dropouts, record player noise and much more. We’ve collected these vintage sounds from old Hollywood dailies reels, and film stock. 206 tracks that recreate the sound of the lost art of classic Film, TV and radio production.

Looking for authentic ambient sounds of Japanese transportation? Look no further! Field recordist and composer Ryan Ayers travelled to Japan in April of 2019 and captured this wonderful collection. His journey took him from Osaka to Tokyo to Fukuoka and all points in-between. Travel aboard the trains of the JR, the famous Shinkansen, the Hanyu Ferry and more! Explore the train platforms and station terminals of Osaka. Get lost in the Kansai International Airport. There is a subway noodle shop as well as specialty food markets. Authentic walla and natural activity give this collection the ear candy necessary to be an integral part of great soundscapes.

This is a purely recorded sound pack. Nothing is synthetic or layered here. What you hear is exactly what was captured on location. We edited and mastered the files to bring out the best parts of the recordings. Most of the recordings have been ready-made into loops for ease of use. As always, we have embedded the files with detailed metadata for easy database searches.

Whether you’re working on an exciting Pirates of the Caribbean style video game or a relaxing sea-faring romance, the hours of exceptional background loops and additional cutting edge ship sounds contained within this sound pack will set your project on a course to excellence!

EXPLORE AN ENTIRE SHIP

Whether your adventure takes place in the MAIN DECK, CABIN, BELOW DECK, atop the CROWS NEST, in a MEDIEVAL PORT, or on a DISTANT SHIP in the HIGH SEAS we’ve got you covered! Each ambience contains MULTIPLE VARIATIONS, ALL WEATHER CONDITIONS, and MULTIPLE INTENSITIES to cover each and every part of the ship, on the rough and calm seas, this sound effects library is perfect for every situation you need.

A JOURNEY TO REMEMBER

Our expert team of sound designers have meticulously crafted each ambience into CONTINUOUS, NON-REPETITIVE, DRAG AND DROP-READY LOOPS that will serve as perfect background audio for your game, film, animation, live event, or even as relaxing background audio! We have even included FULL and SIMPLIFIED MIXES, ISOLATED WEATHER, OCEAN and WOOD CRACKING versions, SHORT and LONG non-repetitive variants, and numerous other options for your convenience!

TREASURE APLENTY

With FREE UPDATES, FOREVER! and FREE BONUS AMBIENCES: MEDIEVAL PORT and isolated, SEA, SAILS and FLAG FLAPPING, Ship’s BELL RINGING, WEATHER and WOOD CRACKING SOUNDS, all supplied in industry standard Hi-Rez WAV and Hi-Quality MP3 formats, there’s no better time to set sail on the high seas with this ONE OF A KIND sound pack!

So what are you waiting for? Take command of this UNIQUE library and begin your journey on the high seas today!

KEY FEATURES:

Huge variety of Old Wooden Ship Interior and Exterior Ambiences, All Weather Conditions and Additional Useful BONUS Sound Effects for every scene or situation.